We are committed to making the documents on our web site accessible to the widest possible audience. We've worked with accessibility specialists to develop a solution that will make the documents contained within our web site accessible to people using assistive technologies. In certain cases we may provide Portable Document Format (PDF) files in alternative, accessible text-based formats in order to compensate for the limitations of existing practices and technology available to people using assistive technologies. We appreciate the efforts of Adobe and other developers to address the accessibility issues concerning PDF files. As technology develops we look forward to being able to offer more fully accessible PDF files on our web site.

In cases where we are linking to PDF files on external web sites we have provided the following options for people using screen reading devices to be able to access PDF files that have not been made more accessible or that do not have accessible alternatives posted by their respective web site owners. We cannot regulate how other web sites post their PDF files, but we have made the following options available in order to allow people that use assistive technologies an opportunity to access this content.

Adobe provides the following tools to help visually disabled users who have screen reading programs that are not compatible with Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0 or who have PDF files that have not been made "more" accessible. The following three options can be used to access Adobe PDF's:

You have the option of going to Adobe's Access web site, filling out an HTML form, and converting it from a PDF file to HTML on-the-fly. Enter the web address of the pdf file and Adobe's Access server will download the PDF document, translate it, and return it to you in your browser application. Adobe PDF Conversion by HTML Form

Another option is to send an e-mail message to the Adobe Access server, submitting the address of the document to be translated or by sending the document as an attachment. You can submit multiple URL's in a single message as well as submit multiple PDF files. The server will then translate the PDF file or files into either a web page or a text (ASCII) document. Adobe PDF Conversion by E-mail

If your system is not connected to the internet, Adobe has developed a free accessibility plug-in called Adobe Acrobat Access 4.05 for Windows for use with Acrobat 4.0x or Acrobat Reader 4.0x. for Microsoft Windows 95/98, or Windows NT 4.0. However, if you have internet access, Adobe recommends using the on-line PDF translation tools instead of the plug-in.

These methods of making PDF files accessible are adequate for many documents that we link to on our site. We will provide alternative formats for PDF files that are hosted on our web site that contain graphics files or that use especially complex formatting.